In the Eye of the Tiger
by Anna Sparrow
Summary: Sanji accidentally injests a deadly poison and now the Strawhats are in a race against time to save him. Can a strange girl found aboard an enemy ship and some creepy twins help save the day?
1. Rescued

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece…..

Ohayo, peoples! This is my first serious One Piece fic! I've been working on it since last summer, Oi! Really hope you enjoy it. However, I may not be able to update for a long while because I'm starting up on my last few weeks of school, studying for SATs and AP exams and finals…. Read, and enjoy!

Emi

_**In the Eye of the Tiger**_

**Chapter 1Rescued**

Monkey D. Luffy sat on the bowhead of the Merry Go, and watched as the approaching ship came closer, its black pirate flag flapping in the wind. On the deck next to him, Roronoah Zoro quickly pulled out his swords, tied on his bandanna, and watched as the ship prepared to fire its cannons. "Time to fight Luffy?" he asked, clasping his third sword in his jaw.

Luffy nodded and calmly cracked his knuckles, jumping from the bowhead to the deck. Around him the other crew members were getting ready for battle as Usopp loaded the cannon.

"Let's go!" he shouted cheerfully, and the battle was underway.

"Usopp, fire!" Luffy ordered while Nami went to go steer the ship, since she knew the others would be too stupid to even notice that the ship was going off course.

Usopp fired with perfect accuracy, and the cannon shot through the air with a trail of black smoke whipping like a snake behind it. The cannonball hit its target, and the mast of the oncoming pirate ship exploded into hundreds of wooden shreds as it fell slowly into the water.

"Yeah, I hit it!" Usopp cheered, but his victory was cut short as a man flew from the mast of the enemy ship and landed gracefully upon the deck of the Merry Go.

The man was no taller than Luffy, but his powerful muscles rippled in the afternoon sun. Slowly, he tipped up his wide brimmed hat to glare at Luffy.

"You've made a very bad mistake attacking my ship, Straw Hat Luffy," the man said with a voice like grating steel, "and now you will pay."

Luffy gave the man a big smile as he cracked the knuckles of his other hand, "We'll see about that," he answered as he stretched both his arms behind him.

Meanwhile the other members of the crew were busy with their own problems as the pirates from the enemy ship began to swing over on ropes. Nico Robin, calm as always, watched in a kind of bored stare as one of her hands came out of the chest of a man swinging across to the Merry Go. She smiled as the hand poked him in the eyes, causing the man to hold his face screaming as he plunged into the depths below.

Roronoah Zoro, however, was opposite of Robin. He felt excited as his enemies came. The more enemies he could defeat, the stronger he could become. Easily, he blocked an enemy pirate as he swung at him with a spear.

"Attacking me will only cause you pain," Zoro said threateningly as he dropped the sword from his mouth and kicked it into the pirates abdomen. Quickly he put the sword back into his mouth and ran off to find stronger enemies.

Nami continued to steer the ship as a pile of beaten pirates formed a circle around her. Angrily she put away her staff, and tore one of her maps from the hand of a pirate. "That'll teach you to stay away from my maps," she shouted.

"Gum Gum Bazooka!" Luffy shouted as his arms launched forward towards the captain. The captain stepped swiftly to his side as Luffy's arms stretched past him. Smiling, he took out two whips attached to his belt. The whips seemed like a normal weapon, except for the fact that they were covered in spikes. Luffy yelled in pain as the man slashed at his stretched arms with the whips, feeling more like a blade than a piece of leather.

Nico Robin watched the battle from afar, and soon the captain was distracted by various hands coming from his body and poking him. Luffy gave a silent thanks to Nico as he aimed for the man's face.

"Gum Gum Stamp!" Luffy shouted as his foot landed square in the captain's face causing him to fly overboard. Robin laughed as the man flew into the water, and sprouted hands on a pirate, coming from behind to attack her, and started tickling him.

Sanji, the ship's cook, walked out from the kitchen, carrying a plate of food in each hand, wondering what was going on. He kicked a pirate in the side as he came to attack him. As the pirate fell over in pain, Sanji jumped up, kicking another man in the face, and caused them both to go overboard. Neatly, he landed on the deck without spilling even a morsel of food.

Usopp, having abandoned the cannon, hid silently behind a barrel as five men came to the upper deck. Quickly he fired off an exploding star with his slingshot at a barrel of rum nearby. The barrel exploded, causing the men to catch fire, and jump overboard. Seeing this, Zoro shook his head -not at the men, but at the sad waste of good grog.

The battle continued to rage on viciously. So viciously in fact that nobody even noticed as a small, blue-nosed reindeer jumped onto the enemy pirate ship. Not only did he need medical supplies, but he decided to start looking for gold before Nami decided to have the entire crew spend a day looking for the gold on the ship. Suddenly, five men appeared from the upper deck of the ship and attacked.

Chopper guessed they were the ship's guards as he used his powerful hind legs, in his normal reindeer form, to kick two men in the head. Nervously, he switched to jump point as two men ran up to attack him from the sides. As he jumped the two men collided, knocking each other out, and Chopper finally landed hard on the head of the last man. The man screamed as his face hit the deck, but it didn't stop there. Chopper jumped out of the way as the floor of the deck collapsed, exposing the second floor of the ship below.

Chopper looked down into the now gaping hole in the deck and gasped in surprise. Iron bars coated one end of the room, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years, and the corner, curled up in a ball of bloodstained clothes, lay an unconscious woman.

Knowing instantly what to do, Chopper jumped down into the cell, and began examining the woman. She looked young, probably no older than seventeen. Her matted blue hair sprawled across the floor, and her clothes were torn and ragged. Two rose tattoos, one on each arm, seemed to shimmer in the sunlight and a long scar cut a diagonal white gash on her back.

Changing back into his normal form, Chopper reached for the small med pack strapped to his shoulder and gently turned the young woman on her back. "Wow, she's hurt bad…" he mused as he plopped down next to her and began to pick out the proper items to treat her with. He poured some fresh water onto a soft cloth and began to wipe away the dried blood and dirt from her face so he could see he wounds better. After a few minutes she began to moan a little and move around. To Chopper, this was a good sign: it meant she would probably be just fine.

The room suddenly went dark, as someone was now peering over the hole the reindeer medic has created, blocking what little sunlight it let in. Chopper looked up.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, a plate full of rice shattered on the deck with a loud crash. Sanji looked up at the men who were laughing at knocking the food out of his hand.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sanji said, glaring at them.

"Oh yeah," the man chuckled, unsheathing his sword, "and what's a cook like you going to do about it?"

In a flash, Sanji's kicked the man toe first in the crook of the neck, and lifted him into the air, supported only by Sanji's leg.

"To make fun of a cook at sea," Sanji said as the man choked and blood ran down his chin, "is only a fool's mistake."

With that he spun the man around in a circle, knocking the other men off the ship, and concluded by flipping and smashing the man's head face first into the railing.

"Weaklings," he muttered as he turned to see the rest of the battle. Unconscious men were scattered across the deck except for a group of seven at the end of the ship, who all seemed to be cowering in fear of the figures of Zoro and Luffy.

"ONI GIRI!" Zoro shouted as he launched Luffy, using the back of his swords.

"GUM GUM SCYTHE!" Luffy shouted as he flew towards the men. His arms stretched wide and sent all the men flying into the water. "WE WIN!"

Calmly, as if nothing happened, everybody went back to their normal duties, all except Luffy who continued to prance around the deck happily. Nico Robin continued to read her book as she grew extra hands to tie up the unconscious men on their ship. Nami, however, eyed the group warily.

"Where's Chopper?" she finally asked, and, as if by magic, a shout of terror came from the pirates' ship.

"Hey, I found him!" Zoro called from other ship. He then jumped down into the little room, and walked over to the medic. "Chopper, why are you helping one of the pirates we were just trying to destroy?"

Chopper stared sternly at his green-haired companion. "Because I'm supposed to help people. And besides, I don't think she's one of them- hold on, she's waking up…"

Meanwhile, the other crewmembers had come over to see what was going on.

"Don't worry, my love!" Sanji sang as he appeared next to Chopper and lifting the girl into his arms. "We'll take care of you!"

"Sanji! Put her down! She needs to rest!" Chopper shrieked, turning into his human form in case he needed to restrain Sanji.

"Stay out of this, you crap-doctor," Sanji snapped.

Chopper's jaw dropped. "WHAT!" he yelled, lunging for the cook.

A small moan from the figure in Sanji's arms stopped him. The chef put the girl on the floor and they all stood over her, waiting.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Huh?"

"OH MY LOVE YOU ARE AWAKE!" Sanji exclaimed gleefully.

"Who're you?" the girl asked, confused. Chopper shoved Sanji out of the way.

"Hi, I'm a doctor and I'm here to help. Who are you and where are these wounds from?"

She looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "I'm Emiko, who're you again?"

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper- I'm part of the Straw Hat pirate crew."

Usopp jumped into the room, followed by Luffy. "And I'm captain!"

Luffy backhanded him. "NO, I'M CAPTAIN!"

The girl called Emiko's eyes widened and she pushed Chopper away from her. "Stay away from me!" she yelped.

"Huh?" the others questioned in unison. "What's wrong?" Chopper asked innocently.

"I don't want anything to do with pirates!"

Zoro, who had been quiet up till now, spoke. "Well, we could just leave you here and sail away- would you like that?"

Emiko shot him a death glare.

"How dare you talk to a lady like that, you idiot swordsman," Sanji snapped, walking over to Emiko. "Don't worry, my princess, we'll take good care of you."

As he moved closer to her, her had flew to her left hip- and met air. Her eyes suddenly lost the fierce glow they had had only seconds before. Her hands fell limply to her lap and she looked down at the rotting wooden boards, muttering something completely inaudible to the pirates around her.

"You win," she said finally.

"Win what?" Luffy questioned. Zoro sighed.

"My swords…" she said quietly. "They're gone. Please find them. They mean a lot to me."

Zoro snorted. "Why shoul-"

"Shut up Seaweed Head! That's no way to speak to a lady!" Sanji cut in throwing a well aimed kick at Zoro, who dodged. Only just. "I'll find them for you, Princess!" He then disappeared up to the deck.

"I know where they are!" Luffy said suddenly, leaping up to the deck after Sanji, Zoro following in his wake. They went over to the railing.

"Luffy, what are you doing?"

"The man I was fighting was carrying swords but he didn't fight with them. I knocked him into the water so I'm searching for him."

Zoro sighed. "Luffy, he's probably at the bottom of the sea right now-"

"THINK AGAIN!" a voice boomed from behind them. They turned to find the captain standing, dripping wet, on the other side of the ship. "You destroyed my crew, and now I'm going to destroy you!" He swung his whip at Luffy, the thorns digging into the young man's leg. He swung the whip again, and Luffy was flipped over the deck into the water.

"LUFFY!" Zoro turned to dive in after his captain.

The whip-man laughed bitterly. "No, no!" he swung his whips at Zoro, but the swordsman easily cut them in half. "Damn!"

"TIGER HUNT!"

The man flew backwards from the force of Zoro's attack, blood squirting out from his wounds. Zoro leaped over him and into the water after Luffy.

"Hey, Zoro, what happened?" Nami called out after the swordsman surfaced, an unconscious captain in his arms.

"Nothing," he replied, climbing up to the deck of the Going Merry and dumping Luffy onto Nami. "Just Luffy being a pest and we found some strange girl- oh, that reminds me…" He leapt over to the deck of the other ship and in one swift motion, grabbed the two swords from the supposedly unconscious pirate. The man jumped up suddenly, and flicked his whip at Zoro, cutting him in the neck.

"Thought you could defeat m-"

Zoro silenced him with a kick to the face and he fell overboard. "Oi, that guy was annoying," he murmured, dropping down into the room where Chopper was still treating Emiko. The swordsman handed the girl her swords. She took them gently, examining their condition.

"Done!" Chopper chimed, standing. "Okay Zoro, you can take her."

Zoro sighed, and bent down to pick her up. She shoved him away, and pushed herself to her feet, unsheathing one of her swords. "Don't touch me," she hissed.

"What?"

"I said don't touch me!" She was shaking now, blood dripping down from a few wounds. "Men are pigs. Take a step closer and I'll kill you."

"I'm only trying to help-"

She lunged at him, tripped, and fell into his arms. She was panting heavily, her eyes sliding in and out of focus. "Listen, girl, I don't-"

She pushed herself back, dizzy. "You gonna fight me, or what?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"GO GET HIM MY LOVE!" Sanji shouted, dropping down to join them.

"SHUT UP, SANJI!" Chopper snapped back.

Zoro laughed and put his sword in his mouth. "Come and fight me if you're fond of dying."

She scoffed. "You underestimate me." In a sudden burst of strength, she lunged at him, and he blocked, their swords clanging together. Blood gushed from her multiple wounds and she grunted in visible pain and exhaustion.

The swordsman grinned cockily at her. "Good, but not good enough." He stepped back, and she fell forward to her knees, her brain getting fuzzy. She whispered something inaudible, before falling unconscious again.

Chopper rushed to her side immediately.

"Wait! Leave her-she'll just attack us again." Zoro snapped.

"We can't do that!" The little reindeer squeaked.

"Why not?"

"She could die!"

"So? She'll still try to kill us-" the swordsman toppled forward suddenly, after receiving an unexpectedly hard kick from his blonde crewmate.

"Chopper," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette, "bring her to the ship's recovery room."

"But we don't have a-"

"NOW!"

The reindeer scurried off in fear, gently carrying the unconscious Emiko in his arms.

Until now, Usopp had been hiding behind a barrel in the hall. He poked his head into the room. "S-Sanji? What's wrong with you?"

Sanji turned, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Ahh, Usopp, I've been waiting a loooong time to kill you."

"WHAT?" the marksman screeched, shaking. "S-S-Sanji!"

"You heard me," Sanji hissed, advancing towards Usopp. He moved to kick him, but Usopp ducked behind a barrel so Sanji would kick the barrel instead.

"USOPP'S HAMMER!"

The attack had no effect, and Sanji placed a well aimed kick into Usopp's gut. Usopp fell backwards and shot multiple lead stars at Sanji's head, but the chef kicked the slingshot out of Usopp's hands with a hideous laugh.

"USOPP'S RUBBER BAND!" the marksman shouted, shooting the rubber band into Sanji's eye. The chef stumbled backwards, distracted, and Usopp lunged for his slingshot, and pelted him with an exploding star.

He flew backwards, but managed to stay standing. "DIE!" he lunged at Usopp, kicking him in the legs to trip him, then flipped him in the air and kicked him directly in the solar plexus. He fell to the ground, in tremendous pain, and coughed blood. Sanji placed one foot on the small of his back, and with the other prepared to kick in his temple. "Goodbye, Usopp."

"CALTROP STAR!" Usopp shouted, suddenly twisting out from under Sanji and shooting him in the chin. Sanji stumbled back and ripped the bloody star from his chin. Usopp pushed himself to his feet with effort, panting heavily and bleeding profusely.

"DIE-" Sanji suddenly toppled forward, revealing Zoro standing behind him, rubbing the back of his head. He lifted the unconscious chef onto his shoulder and turned to Usopp.

"Let's go back to the ship."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**PS. Sorry if the fights scenes are a little lame…… **

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEO!**


	2. Lilies and Roses

**Chapter 2 Lilies and Roses**

Below the deck of the Going Merry, Chopper sat on the floor, closing up his medical kit. In the bed next to him slept the girl whom they had found earlier. She was sleeping quite peacefully despite her wounds.

The door creaked open, and Zoro entered, the unconscious Sanji slung over his shoulder. "Hey, Chopper," he said quietly.

"Hi Zoro!"

"Something is wrong with Sanji; could you take care of him?" He dropped Sanji onto Chopper and walked out.

Chopper sighed and commenced to examine the chef.

* * *

Finally able to relax, Luffy and a self-bandaged Usopp were raiding the galley. Pots and pans were strewn all over the floor and the refrigerator door hung open, nearly off its hinges. The door to the galley swung open, allowing Nami and Zoro to enter. They stared for nearly a minute before Nami noticed Usopp's wounds. "Usopp! What the hell happened to you?" the orange-haired navigator inquired. 

Usopp replied with one word: "Sanji."

Nami looked confused. "He… attacked you?" she asked incredulously. It didn't surprise her, yet at the same time; his wounds seemed much more severe than usual.

Luffy's head perked up at the mention of the chef's name, afraid that he might see his captain gorging on meat. The young man glanced from side to side quicker than the eye could seem to follow for nearly a minute before he returned to his eating frenzy.

Meanwhile, Usopp sat down at the table with Nami and Zoro. The swordsman leaned back against the wall and placed his feet up on the table. "Yeah, he just went crazy and attacked me and Zoro," the marksman said quietly.

Nami shook her head, disbelief still clouding her judgment. "That's not like Sanji. He doesn't beat you guys up unless there's a good reason- like stealing my tangerines!" Zoro rolled his eyes at the last statement; it was so like Nami.

"Yeah, he usually just hates Zoro," Usopp observed, resulting in a hard stare from his green-haired crewmate. Usopp cowered and Nami sat quietly, tapping her fingers on the table and pondering the situation.

Somehow, the silence was unnerving Zoro. It was very strange, as he usually enjoyed being left alone to his own thoughts most of the time. "How about that one girl we found?" he asked suddenly, though he was unsure as to why. The others looked at him strangely.

"She's sleeping," the navigator replied with a sigh. _Sleeping in my cabin…_ She shook her head.

"She tried to kill me," the swordsman pointed out, sitting up and taking his feet off the table. "Shouldn't we look her up or something?"

Usopp shook his head. "Sanji tried to kill me and we didn't lock him up."

"But that's different," the swordsman retorted irritably. Usopp opened his mouth to reply, but Nami beat him to it.

"How?" she asked, crossing her arms and attempting to stare him down. When Zoro could not respond, she smirked. "My point exactly."

"MEEEAAAT!" Luffy shouted suddenly, and everyone jumped. Dishes went crashing to the floor and Nami stood in a rush, cursing. They had forgotten about their captain's presence.

"Oi, Luffy! Would you shut up for a minute?" Zoro snapped. Luffy ignored him and continued to dance around with his food. It looked quite like a circus show…

"So, what do we do now?" Usopp asked as things began to die down. The others shrugged and were silent until Robin entered the galley.

"Navigator-san," the tall dark-haired historian said smoothly, "Chef-san has woken up and wishes to see you." Nami looked over at Robin, then at Zoro, her eyes pleading with the swordsman.

He shrugged. "I'll come with you incase he attacks you."

The two got up and left the galley where Usopp had hid behind a barrel with Luffy at the mere mention of Sanji, leaving Robin to calm them.

Nami and Zoro entered the boys' cabin to find Chopper sitting on the couch next to Sanji packing up his medical stuff. "He's fine for now," the little doctor said, "but if he starts acting strange come get me."

"NAMI-SAN!" Sanji was suddenly down on his knees in front of his orange-haired object of affection, offering her a flower of which he seemingly pulled from nowhere.

She took the flower with a smile and set it on a table. "Thank you Sanji-kun."

His eyes became hearts. "Naaammiii-saaaaann!" he sang, swaying back and forth on his knees.

Zoro, who was leaning against the doorframe, sighed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Will this day ever end?"

"What did you say crap-swordsman?" Sanji snapped, come level with the swordsman.

"Why did you attack Usopp?" Zoro snapped back, taking no notice of Sanji's anger.

"Attack Usopp?" the chef asked, confused, and backed down.

Zoro raised an eyebrow, unsure as to whether Sanji was just screwing with him. "Yeah, he said you tried to kill him- don't you remember?"

Sanji shook his head, looking genuine. "No- I remember walking into the kitchen of that ship and finding a bottle of Scarlet Rose Spice."

"Scarlet Rose Spice? What's that?" Nami asked, interested.

Sanji pulled a small bottle of a sparkly spice a bright scarlet color from his jacket pocket. His eyes suddenly glinted dangerously and he stared at the contents of the bottle. "Scarlet Rose Spice, the rarest, best tasting spice in the world. I'm incredibly lucky to find an entire bottle of it. The chef on that ship had good tastes…. The spice comes from a flower called the Tiger Rose…" he trailed off, muttering under his breath.

Nami sighed. "And then you just blacked out after you found this?"

Sanji suddenly looked sheepishly at the ground. "Well, I tasted it to see if it was real…"

"You tasted something from an enemy pirate ship?" Nami squeaked, her eyes going wide.

"Yeah…"

"Oi, Chopper!" Zoro spoke up suddenly, shaking his head. The little reindeer scurried over, nearly tripping over himself.

"Yeah, Zoro?"

"Have you heard of the Tiger Rose?"

"No," he shook his head and pulled a book off of the bookshelf "but I can check." He began to skim through the book.

Sanji began to look nervous. "Why would a spice make me attack somebody?"

"Aha!" Chopper interrupted. "Here it is, the Tiger Rose-but it says it's harmless and very rare-"

"See-!" Sanji snapped.

Chopper cleared his throat, clearly annoyed, and everyone went silent. "However, its counterpart- the Tiger Lily- is extremely poisonous and is often used to make deadly poisons, mostly used by the navy. It is said to cause blackouts, delusions, delirium and….death."

Sanji went pale and began to glance around the room. "WHAT?" Zoro rolled his eyes and Sanji continued to panic. "So…this…is actually a poison….and I'm going to DIE because of it?"

Chopper nodded grimly. "Its affects are very slow, so we can find an antidote in time- depending on how much you drank……….how much did you drink?" He then tried to reassure him, but to no avail.

"Ah….uh….a quarter of the bottle…"

"Sanji!" Nami exclaimed, exasperated, and rubbed her temples. It was hard to believe that the chef could lack so much common sense…

"I'm sorry, Nami-san!" Sanji pouted.

Chopper was now beginning to panic now as well, pacing back and forth in front of the bed, and skimming the page in the book about the Tiger Lily. "A-according to this book, we have as long as three days- but probably less!"

Now frustrated with the stupidity of the damn love-chef, Zoro began to pace as well. "How the hell do we find this antidote?"

"There's a recipe for it right here!" Chopper shouted jubilantly, and Sanji began to dance around gleefully. Chopper continued to read, marking off all the ingredients he had until he came to the most important one of all… "Oh no!"

"What?" the other three shouted in unison, and all activity ceased.

"The antidote can only come from the Tiger Lily flower itself!"

The room was silent for a long time. No one dared to speak, and not even Zoro had a smart comeback for Sanji. After what seemed like an age, the chef broke the silence. "Where does the flower grow?"

Chopper looked back down and at the book. "It grows at a temperature range of 81 to 93 degrees- on an island called Tiger Island."

There was another silence. "Tiger Island…" Nami mused suddenly, deep in thought.

"What is it Nami?" Chopper asked.

"I've heard that name before…" The navigator stood and left the room, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper staring after her in utter confusion.

"I always though she was weird," Zoro mused, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Don't you ever speak about Nami-san like that again!" Sanji snapped, glaring at the swordsman. He would have most likely attacked him, if Chopper was not doing his best to restrain the chef.

"Sit down, Sanji," the doctor pleaded in his child-like voice. Sanji ignored him, however, and continued to trade insults with Zoro.

* * *

The door to the girls' cabin squeaked slightly as Nami slowly pushed it open. She cringed, regretting that she hadn't yet had time to bully Usopp in oiling all the door hinges. The salty sea air was starting to erode them already. 

Soft, steady breathing came from the pile of blankets in the corner of the room. Nami jumped, momentarily forgetting that the reason she was being so quiet in her own cabin was that the strange girl Chopper had found was resting in there.

Tiptoeing across the floor to her desk, Nami quickly grabbed all of the maps she had acquired of this particular area of the Grand Line. She was just about to leave when a strange object in the opposite corner of the room caught her eye. She looked more closely and discovered that the object was in fact a canvas travel bag. Curiosity got the better of her and she set the maps back on the desk and carefully picked up the bag, spilling its contents onto her bed.

It was the strangest assortment of objects she had ever seen. There were no clothes; nothing that would suggest the owner of the bag had any intentions of using in for traveling. They were mostly trinkets, small and with no monetary value. But they were obviously important to their owner.

A folded piece of heavy paper caught her eye, and Nami picked it up, unfolding it carefully. It was a photograph of ten happy people, standing on the deck of a ship. The three in the middle front were holding a pirate flag; it was a normal skull and crossbones, but the skull was seemingly tattooed with black rose petals.

"That was my Nakama."

The voice startled Nami so badly that she fell off the bed, taking the bag along with her. After regaining her breath and allowing her heart to steady, she looked to where the voice had come from, and found the strange girl standing next to her looking at the picture with a very regret-filled face.

Nami mentally cursed as a deep blush rose to her cheeks. She knew it was wrong for her to be snooping, and now that she had been caught, she felt ten times worse.

"There's no need to feel bad," the strange girl said, picking up each object as if it would suddenly burst into a million pieces.

"H-how did you-?"

"I was watching you the whole time. It's something a learned a while ago, never let your guard down, no matter how safe you think you are."

Nami was still dumbfounded. "Why aren't you mad at me? I mean I was going through your personal belongings like a common thief!"

_You are a common thief,_ her conscious reminded her. She shook it off.

The girl shrugged. "I don't really know, to tell you the truth. I guess nothing really bothers me anymore."

"Why?" Nami blurted out suddenly, before she had a chance to think about her question.

"I'd rather not talk about it," the girl replied, sitting on the bed.

After a very long, awkward silence, the girl suddenly spoke. "I'm Emiko," she said quietly, almost as if she was afraid to reveal any part of herself to anyone.

The orange-haired girl smiled. "I'm Nami." Emiko looked up, almost surprised to see them smile, and smiled back weakly. Nami could see the hurt in Emiko's eyes and wondered what could have caused her so much pain. She felt just plain awful for her. The girls sat in an understanding silence for a good long time before Nami realized why she had come into the room in the first place. She stood and gathered up her maps. "Hey, Emiko?"

"Yeah?" Emiko replied, looking up at her.

"If you need anything, just let me know, okay?"

Emiko smiled, her mood improving greatly. "Thanks."

* * *

When Nami reentered the boys' cabin, Zoro and Copper had finally subdued Sanji, who was asleep in his hammock. "What took you so long?" Zoro asked from his position on the couch. 

"I couldn't find my maps," she lied, laying out said maps in the process. "Don't you think we should go and get the others first?"

"We don't have time," Chopper said. "We can tell them afterwards."

Nami nodded and began to examine the maps with Chopper.

"Here," she said finally pointing to tiny dot in the middle of nowhere. "Tiger Island. It's actually the next island in our course."

Chopper let out a huge sigh of relief. "Any idea how long until we get there?"

Nami took some measurements with a strange long instrument, wrote down a few notes and stared out the window for a good two minutes before answering. "Six, maybe seven hours, if the weather holds."

"Good," Zoro spoke suddenly. "Then we'll have plenty of time to find that flower and save love-cook here."

"Right," the navigator replied. "I need to go check our course." She gathered her maps and left. Chopper walked over to Sanji and gave him a quick look over before turning to Zoro.

"Zoro, you watch him."

"What? Why me?"

"Because…uh…because I need to check up on Emiko…." The reindeer said hurriedly before scurrying off.

"You're just afraid!" Zoro called after him, sighing as he leaned back and shut his eyes.

* * *

When Chopper entered the girls' cabin, he found his patient sitting upright against the wall, reading one of the many books that took up the majority of the already cramped space. She did not look up at him when he entered, nor did she look none-to-pleased to be bothered. 

Hesitantly, the little medic crossed the room. "Uh…hello?" When she did not answer, he skirted to the edge of the room to avoid her. "Um, I want to help you… but I can't if you attack me, y'know…"

"I won't attack you," she said shortly, still not looking at him. "Besides," she put the book down, "that damn swordsman of yours, he has my swords."

"Oh, Zoro? Yeah, he'll take good care of them until you're better," he told her, walking over and beginning to examine her wounds.

"You know," she said, flinching each time he touched her, "you're awfully trusting."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," she told him, shaking her head.

"So, how did you get these wounds?" he asked after a short pause. "I'll be able to treat you better if you tell me."

She bowed her head and lowered her eyes. "I…I was attacked…by those bastard pirates…"

"Not all pirates are bad, you know."

A small smile played on her lips. "I know."

Chopper sat down on the bed and took her hand in his hoof. "I promise I will make you better, okay?"

"Okay," she replied softly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The little reindeer packed up his supplies and headed for the door. He stopped as he put his hoof on the handle. "Why did you attack Zoro? Why were you afraid of him?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Chopper nodded. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me until you are ready. I healed your wounds- you should be all better in four days." The little reindeer shook his head sadly. He knew it would take much longer than that for her to heal emotionally. "I'll bring you some food, if you want."

"That…that sounds really good."

He nodded. "It might take a little while, since our cook is…incapacitated."

"It's fine," she said, lying back down and pulling the blankets up around her. Chopper pulled the door open and walked out.

* * *

"Hey, Chopper!" Usopp said as the little reindeer entered the galley. "How is Sanji?" 

Chopper shrugged, feeling the effects of stress starting to take their toll. "He's going to die in three days unless we get him an antidote form an extremely rare flower that is on a nearby island-" he paused for a breath "-and you all have to cook your own food."

Robin looked up from the book she was reading. "I'll cook."

"You can cook?" Chopper and Usopp chimed in unison, staring incredulously at the historian.

"A little, yes."

"I'll help for a fee," Nami put in, winking. Chopper sighed and sat down at the table. This was going to be a long trip.

The door opened suddenly and Zoro stepped in, blood dripping down his chin. "Uh, we've got a problem with Sanji…"

Chopper jumped to his feet. "I told you to watch him!"

The swordsman yawned. "I, uh, fell asleep."

"What's wrong with Sanji?" Luffy called from his position in the refrigerator.

Robin shook her head and stood, and Usopp sighed loudly. "I'm surrounded by morons," he moaned.

Chopper was on the verge of panicking. "Everybody fan out and search for Sanji. In his delusional state, there is not telling what will happen…"

* * *

Emiko looked up as the door to the cabin opened, expecting to see that little reindeer with her long awaited meal. Instead, it was that strange blonde who had kept pledging his love to her. "Excuse me," she said shortly, not at all pleased that he had come. "You should at least knock." 

"I'm sorry, my love!" he swooned, crossing the room to hug her.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, putting up her hands to ward him off.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, cocking his head to the side and looking rather confused.

"None of your business," she replied shortly, standing and backing away from him. A strange gleam appeared in his eyes, and started for her again.

"Did you eat all the meat again, Luffy?" he snapped, pinning her against the wall.

"Uh, I'm not Luffy… are you okay?" She began to tremble.

"Idiot!" he shouted, and kicked, missing her by only a few inches. Her knees gave way and she fell to the floor, panting.

"Are you okay, my love?" Sanji asked. She looked up at him, completely befuddled. That weird gleam in his eyes was gone.

"You just tried to kick me! Do you think I'm okay?" she yelled, standing again, slowly this time.

"Me? Attack you?" he asked her incredulously. "I would never harm a lady!"

She stared at him. "What the hell kind of a game do you think you're playing?"

"I'm playing any games!"

"Liar!"

He pinned her against the wall again, the crazy look reappearing. "Would you eat all your fucking food, Usopp!" he shouted, this time kicking her full force in the side. She collapsed to the floor, holding her side and gasping for breath.

"Bastard," she moaned, rolling onto her back. She opened her eyes to find Sanji standing over her, still crazed. He straddled her, pinning her to the floor. Memories flooded back, scenes of lust-hungry faces flashing before her eyes. She struggled to push him off, but he overpowered her easily. A faint "help" barely escaped her lips.

"You hate pirates, eh? Wanna get rid of 'em all? Makes you a bounty hunter, then. Well, Chef Zeff was a pirate. Does that mean you want to get rid of him, too?" She opened her mouth to speak, but her grabbed the collar of her shirt and held tightly. She scratched at his arms as she struggled to breathe. "If you want to destroy Chef Zeff, then that means you want to destroy Baratie as well. I cannot allow you to live!"

She continued to struggle as he pushed harder on her windpipe.

The door swung open.

"I found him!"


End file.
